The Heritage Foundation: Drop Politicization at S&P Global

At S&P Global's annual meeting, the company faced a shareholder proposal from the Heritage Foundation via its Free Enterprise Initiative, asking the company to report on the risks of the company’s work with activist groups like the Human Rights Campaign. Meanwhile, the company became once again embroiled in controversy over its ESG rating policies while this engagement was going on, underscoring politicization concerns. As Heritage’s Stefan Padfield told the company at its annual meeting: Another red flag calling into question the Company’s status quo is a recent letter from a coalition of 23 states questioning the lawfulness of the ESG policies of S&P Global Ratings. This letter was led in part by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and raises the specter of undisclosed and unlawful material conflicts of interest, as well as concerns related to antitrust violations and deceptive trade practices – all connected to the Company’s embrace of politically charged ESG. The foregoing list of red flags suggesting biased decision-making at S&P Global should make it difficult for shareholders to trust the status quo.  Learn more about Heritage's Free Enterprise Initiative here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.